Patriot Weekly: Issue 8, March 18, 2024

Editorial: Three Types of Campus Activism Work

(Source: "Justin Whelan" by Kate Ausburn via Flickr ) Within the university context, there are three communities: students, faculty and staff. However, once one has a basic understanding of how these communities work together to govern the university (a.k.a., the "shared governance" model), then one can still find it difficult to identify how one can participate in shaping the university to reflect his values. Therefore, this article will introduce three types of activism work that I have noticed in my years observing campus activity. I hope these types will illuminate a path for the reader of greater participation within his campus community and towards influencing the institution for his values. So without further adieu, let us introduce the three basic forms of campus activism. In my observation of campus advocacy over the years, I have noticed three types of campus activism: compliance work, legislative work and public education work. An effe...

Editorial: An Introduction To University Governance

( Photo : ''Court Gavel - Judge's Gavel - Courtroom'' by wp paarz via Flickr ) In my previous articles, we spoke of our fictional heroine Molly who took the proper steps to advocate for university change successfully. We used her story to illustrate how the policy change process at a university works. Afterwards in the next article, we analyzed how her story illustrated important elements in the policy change process, such as how every stakeholder has a priority list and how a successful advocate will know how to either appeal to or influence this list. Most recently, we noted how even with all the tactics in the world, it is a cause that gives one’s advocacy meaning. Now in this article, we will explore the university’s internal governance system, which is the context in which a student’s advocacy occurs. At the end of this article, the reader should have a better grasp of the advocacy environment within higher education. Metaphorically speaking, the reader will...

Editorial: Introduction to The Shared Governance Model

(''Court Gavel - Judge's Gavel - Courtroom'' by wp paarz via Flickr) In my previous articles, I gave a broad overview the university’s governance system and recently introduced the three main stakeholder groups within the university environment: faculty, students and staff. I wrote before about how a student who understands the university governance environment can participate in it to his own benefit. To understand how these stakeholder groups interact together, let us now discuss The Shared Governance Model of higher education. The Shared Governance Model (or “shared governance”) is a philosophy of university governance in which the university’s governing board (in our case, The Board of Regents) heavily relies upon the advice and counsel of the three stakeholder groups to govern the university. In shared governance, the board gives each group (or constituency) authority to advise the board on matters of the constituency’s expertise. For ex...

Patriot Weekly

Search This Blog